On 20 January 2008, Lleyton Hewitt defeated Marcos Baghdatis in a five-set marathon at the Australian Open that ended at 4:33 a.m. That clash remains the latest finish to a match in history.

In the crowd that early morning inside Rod Laver Arena was eight-year-old Alexei Popyrin. The youngster couldn’t make it to the fifth set, nearly falling asleep before getting taken home by his parents.

Eleven years later, Popyrin was the one on a big stage at the year’s first major. The #NextGenATP Aussie entered the tournament with just one tour-level win to his name.

But after defeating veteran Mischa Zverev and Top 10 staple Dominic Thiem, he had the full force of the Margaret Court Arena crowd behind him as he recovered from a two-set deficit to force a decider against eventual semi-finalist Lucas Pouille. The 19-year-old was unable to complete the comeback, but it became clear that Popyrin is not afraid of competing under the spotlight.

“It was fantastic for him to get the win at the Australian Open in the first round against Mischa Zverev. But it was how he wasn’t completely happy with that: he wanted to keep going,” said Hewitt. “Against Dominic Thiem on Melbourne Arena, which is one of the biggest courts at the Australian Open, for him to go out and play like he did was impressive. That’s now the belief that he can have, that he can match up with these guys, so that’s where he’s going to grow as a player.”

“It gives me more confidence to say that I can play with these players,” Popyrin said. “It definitely motivates me to keep working. Not that I need much motivation to keep working, but I’ve still got goals that I need to achieve.”

His confidence has been on display all week at the BNP Paribas Open. Popyrin qualified for his first ATP Masters 1000 main draw, and on Friday, he picked up his first win at the level, beating 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist Jaume Munar of Spain in straight sets.

“It definitely means a lot. Growing up watching these tournaments on TV, just to get my first Masters 1000 win is a great achievement for me,” Popyrin told ATPTour.com.

Popyrin’s rise has been sudden. This time last year, he was World No. 553, and he had played just four matches on the ATP Challenger Tour, losing them all. In August, he won his first title at that level.

Then, in October, he qualified for an ATP Tour event for the first time in Stockholm and claimed his maiden tour-level victory against Matthew Ebden in Basel, before challenging reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev in the second round.

Popyrin says that all of those moments last year helped him build more and more confidence so that he was ready for his moment in Melbourne and his breakthrough in Indian Wells. After his Melbourne run, the 19-year-old was being recognised on the street at home.

“Once I went out with a couple friends to dinner, and after dinner I had a few people stop me and take pictures with them on the street,” Popyrin said. “That was all a new experience for me. I liked it.”

“It was a pretty important experience for Alexei to have,” Rohan Williams, Popyrin’s coach, said of his pupil’s Australian Open run. “The match against Pouille on a Saturday night and playing in front of that crowd, the home crowd, is a pretty special feeling. Having a special moment like that is one thing, but he’s got 12, 15 years hopefully in tennis so as a step in his development, this is an important thing, to learn how to play on big stages, if he wants to get where he’s going.”

Popyrin reached a career-best No. 123 in the ATP Rankings last month. His immediate goal is to crack the Top 100. Another target is qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals, for which the Top 7 21-and-under players automatically qualify. In 2018, Popyrin finished 17th in the ATP Race To Milan.

“Hopefully this year I can really step it up and hopefully I can compete there,” Popyrin said.

In the first two years of the Next Gen ATP Finals, qualifiers have gone on to enjoy significant success. Six of the Top 30 players in the ATP Rankings have competed in Milan.

“I look at them and I get some inspiration. They went through this period that I’m in now fairly quickly. They jumped to the Top 100, Top 75, Top 50 and now they’re close to breaking into the Top 10, so I definitely look at them and I see their game,” Popyrin said. “They’re great tennis players, and I don’t see my game far off from their game. I think I’ve got the same level. Of course they’ve got a higher [ATP] Ranking, but [I think I have] the capability. I believe in myself.”

The Aussie’s dream is to become World No. 1 and lift multiple Grand Slam trophies. Only time will tell what is in store for the speaker of three languages (English, Russian and Spanish), but his weapons are clear: a big serve and a ferocious forehand. Popyrin says that more than anything, however, people should know that no matter whether those shots paint the lines or sail out, everything he has goes into being ready for the moment.

“I am hard-working. I give my all every time I step on the court,” Popyrin said. “It may not look like on court I give much effort with my shots and game style, but definitely outside the court with my recovery, my warm-ups and everything, I’m 100 per cent professional.”

At the New York Open last month, Popyrin played doubles with Hewitt. The former World No.1 has mentored the teenager since they met in 2017.

“He’s definitely someone who I look up to,” Popyrin said. “He’s one of the greats of the sport, of Aussie tennis also. It’s great to have Lleyton in my corner.”

Eleven years ago, when Hewitt was battling Baghdatis deep into the Melbourne morning, Popyrin was just another kid in the crowd. And now, not only is he rapidly improving on the ATP Tour, but he is being mentored by the legend who he was watching as a boy.

“It’s amazing,” Popyrin said. “Just to be on the same court with him and on the same team is a dream come true.”

The BNP Paribas Open has been voted as the ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year for five straight seasons, and on Friday afternoon, celebrated its distinction in the 2018 ATP Awards with fans at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

ATP Executive Chairman and President Chris Kermode presented Tournament Director Tommy Haas with the trophy ahead of the first-round match between Steve Johnson and Taylor Fritz on Stadium 1.

“We are honoured and humbled that for the fifth straight year, our event has been recognised by the players as Tournament of the Year,” said Haas. “Our entire staff works incredibly hard to deliver a world-class experience.”

In 2018, the BNP Paribas Open unveiled a brand-new “Full Bloom” marketing campaign that highlighted the world-class venue and players set amidst the stunning natural beauty and backdrop of the desert landscape. In parallel, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden underwent a beautification project to further amplify the feeling of Tennis Paradise. Inside Stadium 1, video walls were replaced and upgraded to complement the action on court. BNP Paribas extended its title sponsorship of the tournament through 2023.

The tournament awards, voted annually by ATP players, recognise the leading standards set across events on the ATP Tour. The Fever-Tree Championships and Intrum Stockholm Open have been named Tournament of the Year respectively in the 500 and 250 categories and will receive their trophies later this season.

When Alex de Minaur lifted his first ATP Tour trophy at his hometown Sydney International in January, it was a breakthrough start to the year for the 20-year-old. As the Aussie solidified his place in the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings, it also marked the culmination of an successful transition from the ATP Challenger Tour to the upper echelons of the game.

De Minaur, who made great strides on the Challenger circuit in 2018, highlighted by his maiden title in Nottingham, is just one of many players who have benefitted from the experience gained on the circuit. Working your way up from the Challenger level to the ATP Tour is the natural progression for all competitors, and like De Minaur, a handful have made it look easy in the opening months of the year.

The month of February alone saw a bevy of 2018 stars break through with their first ATP Tour semi-final or better. Five players that lifted multiple Challenger trophies and won at least 20 matches last year, took the leap last month.

Juan Ignacio Londero
It all started with Juan Ignacio Londero. In front of friends and family, the Argentine would make a splash in his return to the ATP Tour, six years removed from his debut on the circuit. He captured his maiden crown at his hometown Cordoba Open, having previously never won a match at the tour-level.

After many years struggling with injuries off the court and consistency between the lines, it finally all came together for Londero. The Argentine was one of just three players to win at least 40 matches last year, including titles in Mexico City and Marburg, Germany. Just nine months after lifting that maiden Challenger trophy in the Mexican capital, he enjoyed his breakout ATP Tour campaign in Cordoba.

Reilly Opelka
One week later, it was Reilly Opelka’s time to shine. The 21-year-old American captured his first ATP Tour title at the New York Open, blasting to victory with a deciding tie-break win over Brayden Schnur.

In the final weeks of the 2018 season, Opelka capped a 34-11 Challenger campaign with back-to-back titles in Knoxville and Champaign. And he carried the momentum into the new season, cementing his place in the Top 100 and blasting to his first tour-level crown on the indoor hard courts of New York. Winning breeds winning, regardless of the level, and Opelka has adopted that mentality.

“Last year was huge for me,” Opelka reflected. “It was the first time I consistently put together a lot of matches in a row. I reached a lot of semi-finals and I think the year before there wasn’t one week where I had won three matches in a row. Being able to play on the Challenger Tour and not as many ATP Tour events, helped me string all those matches together. It gave me a lot of confidence and I learned a lot about myself and my tennis.”

Despite falling in the final, Schnur also celebrated a breakout week in snowy New York. Having never won an ATP Tour match in his career, the former University of North Carolina standout reached the final as a qualifier.

Felix Auger-Aliassime
If Londero and Opelka opened the door, Laslo Djere, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ugo Humbert and Christian Garin kicked it down in the subsequent weeks. With all eyes on the ATP Tour 500 event in Rio de Janeiro, Djere edged Auger-Aliassime for the title. It was the first final for both players.

Last year, Auger-Aliassime was plotting his ascent almost exclusively on the ATP Challenger Tour, posting a 24-13 record. And with his fourth title in Tashkent, he joined an exclusive club as just the sixth player to lift as many trophies at the age of 18 and under. 

Less than a year later, the Canadian teen has surged onto the ATP Tour scene, making a seamless transition in becoming the youngest player to reach a 500-level final. From No. 185 to a career-high No. 58 in the span of 10 months, the longtime tennis prodigy is one to watch as the year moves along.

Ugo Humbert
Perhaps overshadowed by the storylines surrounding Djere and Auger-Aliassime, that week also featured a breakthrough for #NextGenATP star Ugo Humbert. Fresh off a title run at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Cherbourg, France, the 20-year-old Frenchman reached his first ATP Tour semi-final at the Open 13 in Marseille. There, he earned his first Top 20 win over Borna Coric.

But it all started last year for Humbert. After opening the 2018 season at No. 378 in the ATP Rankings, the Metz native finished in sixth place among Challenger win-loss percentage leaders, behind a 34-13 record (.723) and scored titles in Segovia, Ortisei and Andria. His ascension has been nothing short of remarkable, ‘graduating’ from the Challenger level in less than a year and already competing for titles on the ATP Tour.

Christian Garin
Chilean pride was on full display one week ago in Sao Paulo, as Christian Garin streaked to his first ATP Tour final. One year after countryman Nicolas Jarry advanced to the Brasil Open final, Garin replicated the feat.

The 22-year-old has been in dominant form over the past year, soaring nearly 200 spots in the ATP Rankings to a career-high No. 72. After steadily making progress throughout his 2018 campaign, he put it all together in October, going 15-0 with three straight titles in Campinas, Santo Domingo and Lima. His 46 match wins were second-most on the Challenger circuit, behind only Jordan Thompson. And after surging to the title match in Sao Paulo, he has his sights set on even more tour-level success in 2019.

Former finalist Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and three upcoming Americans — Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz and Mackenzie McDonald — feature on Friday at the BNP Paribas Open. Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Kei Nishikori all feature in doubles play on day two at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

View Friday’s Indian Wells Schedule

Wawrinka, the 2017 runner-up, will be hoping to build upon his strong run at last month’s ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. to Gael Monfils in the final) against British qualifier Daniel Evans second on Stadium 2. Evans, who is attempting to move deeper into the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings after falling to Radu Albot in the Delray Beach Open final, had a match point in their 2016 US Open third-round encounter — their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Two ATP Tour veterans, 37-year-old Feliciano Lopez and 33-year-old Berdych, the 2013 semi-finalist, start off action on Stadium 2, meeting for the 15th time (Lopez leads 8-6). World No. 78 Lopez is at his lowest ranking since No. 84 on 16 July 2017, while Berdych, who missed six months of the previous season due to a back injury, is at No 88 – his lowest place since No. 93 on 1 March 2004.

Tiafoe and Fritz, two of 10 Americans in the Top 100 this week, both highlight action on Stadium 1. The 21-year-old Tiafoe, who advanced to his first Grand Slam championships quarter-final at the Australian Open in January (l. to Nadal), plays first-time participant Nicolas Jarry of Chile. World No. 46 Fritz, who reached the Indian Wells fourth round last year, meets fellow American Steve Johnson first on the main show court.

McDonald, a former NCAA singles and doubles champion who defeated both Tiafoe and Fritz in the past month, opens his second appearance in Indian Wells against Joao Sousa of Portugal on Stadium 2.

Missed Day 1 Action? Watch BNP Paribas Open Thursday Play

Pork soaked in maple syrup and sprinkled with beets and cranberries was hot on the stove, and one of the most promising #NextGenATP stars on the ATP Tour was hungry.

Rare is the evening when 18-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime travels to a tour event yet sits around the table, laughs with his family and smells his mom’s cooking. But Thursday evening in Indian Wells was one of those special occasions, and his mother, sister, physio and coach had more reasons to smile.

Auger-Aliassime won his opening-round match at the BNP Paribas Open, a straight-sets dismissal against Acapulco semi-finalist Cameron Norrie, the latest good news in a season that keeps producing tempered excitement for the 6’3” right-hander.

Last month, Auger-Aliassime reached his maiden ATP Tour final at the Rio Open presented by Claro (l. to Djere). This week, he’s on the verge of cracking the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings (No. 58).

But Auger-Aliassime doesn’t have a goal of reaching the Top 10 by the age of 20, or to win five titles by 21. He’s focused on the boring – the day-by-day improvement.

“I’m just trying to focus on what I have to do to play good tennis and eventually good things will happen,” Auger-Aliassime told ATPTour.com. “I didn’t want to focus too much on results or expectations, Top 50 or Top 30. If I do good things on the court, these things [will come].”

They’ve been coming for the past 12 months. One year ago in Indian Wells, Auger-Aliassime beat countryman Vasek Pospisil for his first tour-level win. This year, he’s 8-5, including a quarter-final showing at the Brasil Open in Sao Paulo last week.

But behind every burgeoning teenager on the ATP Tour is a family that’s sacrificed for years to help him pursue his passion. Auger-Aliassime is no different.

“It’d be impossible or very tough for me to do the things that I’ve been doing without the support of my family. The love that they give me really gives me a lot of strength, a lot of motivation,” said Auger-Aliassime as his mother, sister, physio, Nicolas Perrotte, and one of his two coaches, Frederic Fontang, sat by his side in their rented home.

“My dad [Sam Aliassime] isn’t here but he’s always really present, because he’s been a big support all of my career. They make tough days easier and good days even better, so I’m happy to share all these moments with them. It doesn’t happen very often as I’m on the road. I like to share these moments, these weeks with them.”

Auger-Aliassime’s mother, Marie Auger, hovered over the stove, watching the pork. Earlier, Malika Auger-Aliassime, Felix’s older sister by 18 months, diced green onions, and Felix didn’t hide his lack of cooking aspiration. “I don’t cook,” he said, laughing.

“When he was alone with his coach, he used to cook,” Marie Auger said.

But free time is a luxury for the globe-trotting teenager, who prefers his new path to dinner. “Now I sit down and enjoy,” Felix said.

Watch: Felix Fights His Way Into First ATP Final

Mom started the evening with arugula mixed with pecans, blueberries and raspberry dressing and a side of toasted bread. The pork and asparagus followed, along egg pasta with green onions and mushrooms.

To drink, for Felix, was his favourite: sparkling water. “If I could drink sparkling water on court, I probably would,” he said.

Evenings at home weren’t always so harmonious, the family remembered. “It was tough to finish a tennis match or a ping-pong match,” Felix said.

“Badminton, even cards,” interjected Malika, who, even though Felix has shot past her in height, still claims her title as “big sister”.

“It was always rough endings,” Felix said. “I was cheating or something was happening. There were a lot of sparks as kids, but now it builds up into a great relationship.

Read More About Felix: I Don’t Want To Be Remembered For Making A Final At 18

“She’s helping me a lot with everything. She’s really a great sister.”

Malika sat by his side as his team and family sat around the table. It was a quiet night in what’s become a busy year for Auger-Aliassime. But the teenager said he still remains who he was before he reached an ATP Tour final and before ATP Masters 1000 wins were greeted with matter-of-factness.

“Obviously these moments help with the family because I might win matches or win tournaments, but at the end of the day, I’m still the kid of my mom and the brother of my sister. I think these moments help me stay grounded, and at the end, I’m really focused on what I have to do every day to be a better player,” Auger-Aliassime said.

“I don’t want to be remembered for just one week or just one year I had that was great. I want to be consistent. That’s why I go to work every day, lace up the shoes and go to work.”